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Welcome to the third annual Read Harder Challenge! After months of brainstorming, they've put together a list of wide-ranging tasks that designed to help you to find more books and genres and authors and characters to fall in love with.
New this year, they have recruited six of their favorite authors to contribute to this year’s challenge: Daniel José Older, Sarah MacLean, Roxane Gay, Celeste Ng, Ausma Zehanat Khan, and Jacqueline Koyanagi! The list consists of 24 challenges, averaging out to two per month. You may count one book for multiple tasks, or read one book per task. Some of our staff members have decided to take on the challenge and we invite you to join us! And remember: "We encourage you to push yourself, to take advantage of this challenge as a way to explore topics or formats or genres that you otherwise wouldn’t try. But this isn’t a test. No one is keeping score and there are no points to post. We like books because they allow us to see the world from a new perspective, and sometimes we all need help to even know which perspectives to try out. That’s what this is – a perspective shift – but one for which you’ll only be accountable to yourself." |
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Community Feature: Tammy M. 1. Read a book about sports: Forward: A Memoir, by Abby Wambach
2. Read a debut novel: Trumpet, by Jackie Kay 3. Read a book about books: Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff 5. Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative: Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri 6. Read an all-ages comic: Relish, by Lucy Knisely 8. Read a travel memoir: Will Travel for Vegan Food, by Kristin Lajeunesse 10. Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location: Leaving Tinkertown, by Tany Ward Goodman 11. Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location: The Secret River, by Kate Grenville 12. Read a fantasy novel: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs 13. Read a nonfiction book about technology: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot 14. Read a book about war: Stay Where You Are and Then Leave, by John Boyne 16. Read a book that has been banned: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison 17. Read a classic by an author of color: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison 18. Read a superhero comic with a female lead: Maisa & the Bad Muslim Girls, by Maureen Burdock 19. Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey: You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, by Sherman Alexie 20. Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel: Trumpet, by Jackie Kay 21. Read a book published by a micropress: Mouth Flavored Mouthwash, by Phred Chao 22. Read a collection of stories by a woman: Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri 24. Read a book where all points-of-view characters are people of color: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison |
Dan
Currently Reading:
Read: 1. Read a book about sports: The Pine Tar Game, by Filip Bondy 2. Read a debut novel: Farmer's Glory, by A.G. Street 3. Read a book about books: The Hobbit Party, by Jonathan Witt & Jay Richards 4. Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author: The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 5. Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative: Wind vs Polygamy, by Obi Egbuna 6. Read an all-ages comic: Spongebob Comics #1: Silly Sea Stories, by Stephen Hillenburg 7. Read a book published between 1900 and 1950: Jesting Pilate, by Aldous Huxley 8. Read a travel memoir: The Kandy- Kolored, Tangerine Flake, Streamline Baby, by Tom Wolfe 9. Read a book you've read before: The Face in the Frost, by John Bellairs 10. Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location: La Conquistadora, by Fray Angelico Chavez 11. Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location: War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy 12. Read a fantasy novel: Dinosaur Lords, by Victor Milan 13. Read a nonfiction book about technology: Eruption, The Untold Story of Mt. St. Helens, by Steve Olson 14. Read a book about war: Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, by Siegfried Sassoon 15. Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+: A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness 16. Read a book that has been banned or frequently challenged in your country: Justine, by Marquis de Sade 17. Read a classic by an author of color: The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas 18. Read a superhero comic with a female lead: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Long Way Home #1, by Joss Whedon 19. Read a book in chich a character of color goes on a spiritual journey: Memoir of Venerable Pierre Toussaint, by Pierre Toussaint 20. Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel: Brokeback Mountain, by Annie Proulx 22. Read a collection of stories by a woman: Sleeping in Velvet, by Thaisa Frank 24. Read a book where all points-of-view characters are people of color: Khirbet Khizeh, by S. Yihzar |
Miles
Currently Reading:
Read: 3. Read a book about books: The View from the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman 5. Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative: American Street, by Ibi Zoboi 6. Read an all-ages comic: Volcano Trash, by Ben Sears 7. Read a book published between 1900 and 1950: The Mystery of Dr. Fu- Manchu, by Sax Rohmer 11. Read a book that is set more than 5000 miles from your location: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles, by Haruki Murakami 12. Read a fantasy novel: Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor 13. Read a nonfiction book about technology: Track Changes, by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum 17. Read a classic by an author of color: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass 18. Read a superhero comic with a female lead: Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal, by G. Willow Wilson 20. Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel: Call Me by Your Name, by Andre Aciman 22. Read a collection of stories by a woman: Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay 23. Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love: Enough to Say It's Far, by Pak Chaesam (David R. McCann & Jiwon Shin, trans.) |
Stephanie
Currently Reading:
17. Read a classic by an author of color: Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison Read: 2. Read a debut novel: The Devourers, by Indra Das 4. Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author: Dust on Her Tongue, by Rodrigo Rey Rosa (Paul Bowles, trans.) 5. Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative: Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue 6. Read an all-ages comic: Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, by Bill Watterson 8. Read a travel memoir: The Humorless Ladies of Border Control, by Franz Nicolay 9. Read a book you've read before: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J.K. Rowling 10. Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location: The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle 12. Read a fantasy novel: The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison 13. Read a nonfiction book about technology: The Four-Dimensional Human, by Laurence Scott 14. Read a book about war: In Our Strange Garden, by Michel Quint (Barbara Bray, trans.) 15. Read a YA or middle grade novel by an author who identifies as LGBTQ+: If I Was Your Girl, by Meredith Russo 18. Read a superhero comic with a female lead: Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal, by G. Willow Wilson 19. Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey: Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko 20. Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel: The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters 21. Read a book published by a micropress: Complex, Vol. 1: Ways of Life, by Michael Malkin 22. Read a collection of stories by a woman: Women Fly When Men Aren't Looking, by Sara Maitland |
